Leave him on the PP with the Sedins for starters. Kid had 15 PPG in his 40 goal year.

I would wager that Kesler will get on track eventually. But I think he's a 50-60 point guy rather than a mid-70's. Especially with Tortorella riding him so much.

Personally, I want the shut-down Kesler back. I could care less if he gets 40 goals, he needs to get on the + side of +/-, and 50 points being an elite shut-down guy. Bergeron hasn't scored 30 goals since 2006. He's a 60-ish point guy, and he's one of the most valuable players in the game.

Kesler will be trade material sooner than you think. Burkies prized draft pick after drafting Umberger the year before should garner coattails Gillis a good return like him trading Dave Nonis' pick - Schneider for Horvat

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

RoyalDude wrote:Kesler will be trade material sooner than you think. Burkies prized draft pick after drafting Umberger the year before should garner coattails Gillis a good return like him trading Dave Nonis' pick - Schneider for Horvat

Kesler isn't going anywhere. Even if he can't score, the guy is still one of the best shut down centers in the entire game and would still be worth 5 million. 3 games and you're already writing him off?

Having said that, if the Canucks do struggle this year with scoring, I'd like to see Torts put Kesler with the twins on RW and have all the eggs in one basket.

Similar to our 2003 team with the West Coast Express, and similar to our 2007 team with the Sedin-Sedin-Naslund line. Have one extremely dominating line that can prevail even if shut down pairings and shut down centers focus all their efforts on them, while having the rest of the lines just trapping and preventing goals

It's not an ideal situation obviously, but it's a lot better than having "balanced" lines where none of the lines can score (as has been the case in our last 3 playoff series').

Blob Mckenzie wrote:Easy Brown Pants. All of the recent cup winners have had balanced scoring . You want to have one scoring line with three checking lines. Maybe you and the dude should chop up a couple lines

No no no.

I don't want to have 1 scoring line and 3 shut down lines in an ideal world.

However - if things get really bad and the team has great difficulty scoring (hypothetically speaking), and we can't make short term deals to remedy this, then the lesser of two evils would be to perhaps completely stack up one line........as opposed to having 4 lines that can't score at all........as has been the case with the Canucks over these past 3 playoff series. That is my point.

In 2003 and 2007, being a one trick pony atleast got us to the second round......which is better than our first round exists these past two years.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:Brown Pants you need to smoke some weed . Ebbs and flows Brown Pants, peaks and valleys . Your up and down behaviour speaks to a crack habit similar to Royaldud

Haha,

I think you misunderstood my post bro.

I'm not down on the Canucks at all. 3-1 is a pretty decent start.

I'm just exploring future what-if's, that's all (I.e. IF our offense has trouble down the road).

Having said that, I will say that our last 3 playoff results are a bit disconcerting.........and if we have a situation like that this year (I.e. dried up offense), then it might be worth considering putting Kes with the twins.

Last edited by The Brown Knight on Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Island Nucklehead wrote:Leave him on the PP with the Sedins for starters. Kid had 15 PPG in his 40 goal year.

I would wager that Kesler will get on track eventually. But I think he's a 50-60 point guy rather than a mid-70's. Especially with Tortorella riding him so much.

Personally, I want the shut-down Kesler back. I could care less if he gets 40 goals, he needs to get on the + side of +/-, and 50 points being an elite shut-down guy. Bergeron hasn't scored 30 goals since 2006. He's a 60-ish point guy, and he's one of the most valuable players in the game.

But when Kesler is scoring behind the twins, this team can take on any team in the NHL, so I'd much rather get RK going than settling on him just being a defensive stalwart.

powerplay is good start, gotta start working on his tip-ins from JayG blasts from the point!

Strangelove wrote:Skyo, Torts will get Kess straightened out soon enough.

Yeah in due time RK should warm up, just not liking him not having any chemistry with anyone on the team yet.

RoyalDude wrote:Kesler will be trade material sooner than you think. Burkies prized draft pick after drafting Umberger the year before should garner coattails Gillis a good return like him trading Dave Nonis' pick - Schneider for Horvat

Kesler isn't going anywhere. Even if he can't score, the guy is still one of the best shut down centers in the entire game and would still be worth 5 million. 3 games and you're already writing him off?

Having said that, if the Canucks do struggle this year with scoring, I'd like to see Torts put Kesler with the twins on RW and have all the eggs in one basket.

Similar to our 2003 team with the West Coast Express, and similar to our 2007 team with the Sedin-Sedin-Naslund line. Have one extremely dominating line that can prevail even if shut down pairings and shut down centers focus all their efforts on them, while having the rest of the lines just trapping and preventing goals

It's not an ideal situation obviously, but it's a lot better than having "balanced" lines where none of the lines can score (as has been the case in our last 3 playoff series').

RoyalDude wrote:Kesler will be trade material sooner than you think. Burkies prized draft pick after drafting Umberger the year before should garner coattails Gillis a good return like him trading Dave Nonis' pick - Schneider for Horvat

Kesler isn't going anywhere. Even if he can't score, the guy is still one of the best shut down centers in the entire game and would still be worth 5 million. 3 games and you're already writing him off?

Having said that, if the Canucks do struggle this year with scoring, I'd like to see Torts put Kesler with the twins on RW and have all the eggs in one basket.

Similar to our 2003 team with the West Coast Express, and similar to our 2007 team with the Sedin-Sedin-Naslund line. Have one extremely dominating line that can prevail even if shut down pairings and shut down centers focus all their efforts on them, while having the rest of the lines just trapping and preventing goals

It's not an ideal situation obviously, but it's a lot better than having "balanced" lines where none of the lines can score (as has been the case in our last 3 playoff series').

That or put Danny Sedin with Kesler!

Agreed.

Kesler had some solid performing linemates in 2011. I'm interested to see how Kesler performs with some solid linemates by his side.

SKYO wrote:powerplay is good start, gotta start working on his tip-ins from JayG blasts from the point!

Well obviously a 40 goal Kesler is preferable to a 25 goal Kesler. I don't think it's reasonable or fair to expect that out of him, though.

My point was the Canucks can still be successful if Kesler isn't scoring career-high levels. I don't believe Kesler is a bonafide 30 goal guy. Boston's highest goal scorer in 2011 had 30 goals and 62 points. LA's highest goal scorer in 2012 had 25 goals and 76 points. Chicago had some amazing offense last season, and even Kane and Toews were only on a 40 goal pace.

Winning games 2-1 is the same as winning games 5-4. We don't have the firepower of the Hawks, so we need to play a smarter team game and win in the trenches. I think Kesler is well-suited to play that style, and it doesn't require him to be something he's not (a 40 goal scorer).

Frankly, the Canucks have bought into the hype that they are still an offensive machine. They are not. They have a deep, talented defence, they have quality goaltending, and they have two all-world offensive talents that require timely scoring help. Kesler is part of that scoring help, but imo his real value is his ability to play against the top oponnents, thus freeing the Sedins to do their thing. As long as he stays even or above the line he is checking, it's a Win for the Canucks.